"It has been the misfortune of this age, that everything is to be discussed, as if the constitution of our country were to be always a subject rather of altercation than enjoyment." - Edmund Burke anticipates the Neverendum

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Teacher rant #534

Man, I'm knackered. For non-Scots readers, unlike in England, school's done at the end of June - which makes me wonder why the EiS is bothering with this shit:

"The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) will place a motion before its conference later in the week saying the education sector is being damaged.

Councils across Scotland have announced cuts to school funding in order to make their budgets balance.

The Scottish Government said that local authority funding was increasing year on year.

But leaders of the EIS union said planned cuts by many councils translated into job losses - with the threat of some being compulsory."

Should they vote for strike action, I assume this would take place next year? Surely not now? Because this wouldn't 'cause chaos' as the Scottish Tories ludicrously claimed. No - no-one would fucking notice. Half my colleagues seem to be on strike already. They must be doing something because they ain't here. I know this because I keep getting their goddam classes to take. I don't know most of them; in a staff of over a hundred, I know maybe twenty or so. Where the fuck are they? Pulling a sickie - or out of school for a couple of days doing something Really Important. Like attending the poxy EiS conference perhaps? I've got reports to do so get your fat asses back into work and stop leaving me your classes to take, you bunch of bastards. We're supposed to be chilling out at this time of year and here I am stressed out my box.

Anyway, what's this all about? Budget cuts courtesy of the SNP 'Scottish Government' - you know, the one that all these seasoned commentators agree are doing a Good Job. Are they fuck! But given the council tax freeze is a fait accompli, there's a distinct lack of imagination from the EiS here. Cutting teachers' jobs maybe not such a good thing - but there are other avenues we could explore. Like reducing the number of people who Talk Shite For a Living. "We demand less People Who Talk Shite" - that would be a winning slogan for the EiS as far as I'm concerned. People with flip charts: shoot the fuckers.

The whole striking thing's a bit tricky anyway. Do a day here and there and frankly it's a complete waste of time because no-one gives a shit; do it for any length of time and teachers lose sympathy for fucking up everyone's education. Methinks they really should make an effort to think of something else.

One embarrassing thing about public sector strikes is the way that these spaced-out blogging SWPers and other assorted fuckwits delude themselves into thinking it's a harbinger of some revolutionary awakening or some such shit.